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Izuku woke easily, as of late. It turned out that all his bone-breaking was just as bad as everyone had warned him about. Where, before, he used to be able to sleep reasonably deeply, now he woke to just about anything, usually phantom pains. In this case, it was a twinge in his arms and fingers. The muscle and bone throbbed with a dull ache, one brought on by what he realized was cold, as he began to properly blink his eyes open.
It was dark in his dorm room, the sun not having risen yet. There was a chill in the air that made Izuku shiver and curl into a tight ball. Winter had been right around the corner for a while, so he wasn't too surprised, but couldn't it have waited? It was freezing! Of course, he knew at once that there was no getting back to sleep for him. His joints and the lines along which his bones had broken or become powdered were protesting strongly to the shift in temperature. Izuku groaned and flipped onto his other side - then promptly stared.
It was snowing outside. There, visible from his room's window, were great big flakes of snow slowly drifting down from the sky. They looked fluffy, powder snow probably rather than the kind that could be packed tight and turned into snowballs. It instantly brought to mind Eri's pale hair, though her hair was a shade darker, a light grey rather than white. That reminded him... Eri had been confused at the mention of snow. She hadn't seen snow before, had she?
Izuku smiled as he crawled out of bed. His eyes ached to close again and let him drift back to sleep, and his body flared in pain at his sudden movements in the cold, but he didn't pay either any mind. He'd been thinking about doing something special for Eri when it finally snowed. Now seemed like as good a time as any, while he still remembered and before there were too many people up and about to overwhelm her.
He crept from his room, closing the door behind him softly as he pulled on a coat. It wasn't very thick - probably wouldn't let him last too long outside - but it would be good enough. Izuku had learned the layout of the dorms pretty well, and navigated himself to the elevator, pressing the button to go up a floor. It was the teacher's dorms at the top. In the 1-A dorm, there were rooms for Aizawa and All Might, much bigger than what the students got. All Might showed him around his, once. It was like a mini-apartment.
When the elevator dinged and the doors opened, Izuku stepped out into the hall. All Might's room was to the left, so the one on the right had to be Aizawa's. He'd never actually been in there before. Eri spent time with him outside his room. Though, she'd told him a good deal about her bedroom. She'd been very excited to learn that she could choose whatever she wanted to put into it. Izuku gave the door a firm knock.
There was silence for a stretch. It felt too long. Izuku had pegged Aizawa as a light sleeper, so he didn't think he'd need to knock multiple times. Maybe he was wrong? His teacher did doze off all the time in class... Just as Izuku lifted up his hand to knock a second time, he heard shuffling, and the door opened. On the other side was Aizawa, his black hair rumpled and messy and the bags under his eyes even worse than usual. Izuku winced. Had he gotten any sleep at all?
"Problem child," Aizawa greeted him curtly. "What do you need at..." He pulled back into the room, turning to look at something Izuku couldn't see. A clock? He turned back to Izuku, and there was something more than the drowsiness there, a stern pinch to his eyebrows. "...three in the morning?" Oh, so that's what time it was. Yeah, definitely a clock.
"It's snowing out," he said in lieu of actually answering. Aizawa blinked slowly at him, scrutinizing him, evaluating him as if questioning all his life choices at once. Izuku tried again. "I promised Eri I'd take her out to play when it snowed," he explained. "I woke up to snow, so here I am." The disapproving, almost dumbfounded look on his teacher's face was one Izuku wished he could say he'd never seen before, but that would be a bald-faced lie.
"And you think it's a good idea to wake up a six-year-old before dawn?"
Izuku winced. Well, when he put it like that, it sounded like a really bad idea. But he'd promised her, and it'd feel wrong if he didn't try to make good on that promise as soon as he was able to. Besides, it wasn't as though Eri didn't take naps. She'd probably need a larger one later in the day, but that wouldn't be a huge deal. It wasn't like he was going to force her out or anything, either. If Eri woke up and said she wanted to go back to sleep, he'd let her.
"Please, just let me ask her? I'll leave after I make sure I know what she wants to do," Izuku pleaded. Eri already had so many choices in her life taken from her, he didn't want to be yet another person to do that. It would be harmless, turning around and going back to bed, but it mattered to Izuku that he kept his word. He knew what it was like to have a promise fall through, to feel like you were completely forgotten by someone who was supposed to care about you. He wouldn't let Eri feel that way.
"Fine," Aizawa sighed. "If she says yes, I expect you to be watching her the whole time. Don't play too rough, either. Her constitution's not as great as it could be." Izuku nodded. There was no way he'd let Eri out of his sight! Aizawa backed up, holding an arm out for Izuku to enter. He did, walking into the miniature apartment and taking in the shadow-softened details of it. It was a mirror of All Might's in layout, furniture practical yet comfortable.
Aizawa wordlessly pointed down a short hall further inside. There were two doors on the end, but if Izuku remembered the layout of All Might's room right, then he wanted the door at the end, not the one on the side. He walked over to it, minding the sound of his steps. He didn't want to scare Eri, plus it made for some good impromptu stealth training. Everything was a learning opportunity, and all that. All Might would surely call it Plus Ultra before calling him the Prince of Nonsense again.
With the door in reach, Izuku pulled it open. The room on the other side was small, relegated to something of a storage closet in All Might's mirrored version on the other side of the top floor. On Aizawa's side, however, it was a little bedroom. There was a box with toys inside, some drawings hung up on the walls and, against the far wall, a bed. The sheets on it had big, cartoony flowers printed across them, and though it was difficult to tell in the darkness, they looked like they were painted with a whole host of colors.
Izuku carefully got up close to the bed, spying Eri's long hair peeking out from beneath the fluffy comforter. She looked so small like that, dwarfed by her own bedding, probably all curled up on herself like he'd been when he woke up. It wasn't quite as cold in her room as it had been in his. Probably something to do with warm air rising, or maybe the top floor just had better insulation. Izuku reached out, nudging the blob that was her form beneath the comforter.
"Eri," he whispered. "Eri, wake up." There was a jolt beneath his palms and the lump uncurled itself. Big eyes turned and blinked at Izuku, confused and uncertain. Once they landed on his face, though, all that fear melted away, leaving the confusion behind. "Look outside," Izuku told her. Eri's face scrunched up, but she sat up in her bed as Izuku reached over to pull the curtains away from the window. The snow reflected what little light was present, almost appearing to glow. Eri's eyes went big.
"Is... Is that...?"
"Yeah!" Izuku quietly cheered, nodding. "It's snowing out, Eri!" He watched as a huge grin split across her face. Before the culture festival, he wasn't sure he'd ever see her make such a face, and though her smiles weren't usually so wide, Eri smiled now. Pretty often, too. She turned back to him, bouncing where she sat with excited energy. "I promised I'd take you out to play in the snow. So, what do you say? Wanna go out right now and see what it's like?"
"Can I?" she asked. Izuku nodded emphatically. Her grin returned, somehow even bigger. The sheer size of it on her little face nearly rivaled All Might's mighty grin. With confirmation, Eri wriggled until she was out from under her covers. She had on a nightgown, but that wouldn't be warm enough for going outside in. Eri looked to him to lead the way, and his eyes scanned the room before landing on a dresser. Perfect. He rifled through the drawers, pulling out a pair of soft pajama pants, handing them to her.
All of Eri's shoes were neatly set against the wall the door sat on, and it didn't take long at all for Izuku to find some boots. They weren't proper snow boots, but they'd do better than the other choices. He helped her pull her leg through the second pant hole and sat her down in his lap so he could slide her shoes on. The laces were small, thinner than what he was used to, but he managed to tie decent knots. By the time he was done, Eri leapt to her feet, eager to get moving.
"Come on," Izuku prompted. They left the room and walked down the short hall to find Aizawa sitting on the couch with a mug in what was a sort of living room area, though it also blended straight into the kitchen. He looked the two of them over before huffing. Rising, he walked over to a coatrack by the door and pulled a fluffy winter coat off, clearly sized for Eri. Handing it over to Izuku, he went back to the coatrack. Izuku helped Eri get the coat on, zipping it up all the way. Then, he found Aizawa holding out another coat, this one black.
"I'm not letting you go running around in the snow at three AM in a jacket," he deadpanned. Izuku froze for a moment. That coat was too big for him, too long on his shorter torso and wide in the shoulders in a way he wasn't. It wasn't kid-sized or teen-sized, it was an adult's coat. It was Aizawa's coat. He hesitantly reached out to grab it, and Aizawa plopped it into his hand with just enough force to convey that he didn't want Izuku trying to give it back. Sheepishly, he pulled it on over his jacket.
"We'll be back in a bit," Izuku said. He wouldn't give a concrete time. However long Eri wanted to spend out there was her decision at the end of the day. If she was having a good time, he didn't want to have to bring her in before she'd had her fill with the snow. He opened up the door, stepping back into the hall of the top floor. Eri trailed behind him, clutching at the slightly too-long coat reflexively. The door closed behind them, and Izuku whipped around to find Aizawa there. He raised a brow.
"You didn't seriously think I was going to let you two go running around all by yourselves, did you?" he asked. Izuku looked away, blushing slightly. Uh... Yeah, that's exactly what he'd thought. Aizawa took a long sip from his mug. This close, Izuku could smell the coffee in it. Well, if he hadn't gotten any sleep before, he wouldn't be getting anymore before everyone else woke up. "I'll be in the common room. If something happens, just yell and I'll come get you."
"Right," Izuku agreed. A warm feeling bloomed in his chest. He hadn't really liked being called 'problem child' if he was being honest with himself. It reminded him too much of when some of his meaner teachers would join in on calling him Deku, back when it was a sneered insult rather than his future hero name. But Aizawa wasn't like those teachers. He could put up a good front, but he was a really nice guy beneath it all. Izuku looked down at Eri. "You ready?"
She nodded.